tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post8101174676880116186..comments2018-03-19T13:50:29.778-07:00Comments on The Neurocritic: Now we know the brain is "neuroplastic"... in the 19th centuryThe Neurocritichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08010555869208208621noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-73453659345311358902013-10-06T17:06:37.291-07:002013-10-06T17:06:37.291-07:00Such statements are a way to sell a book or produc...Such statements are a way to sell a book or product or service as more novel than it is. Even graduate students in <a href="http://neurocritic.blogspot.com/2013/10/preschool-programs-informed-by-basic.html" rel="nofollow">the 1960s</a> were learning about the rat studies.The Neurocritichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08010555869208208621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-86706431760676376912013-10-03T08:10:29.370-07:002013-10-03T08:10:29.370-07:00I hate when I read &quot;until recently, scientist...I hate when I read &quot;until recently, scientists thought...&quot; statements when my first thought is that I&#39;ve never met a scientist who thought that. It&#39;s especially awful when the textbooks I&#39;ve learned from don&#39;t claim that. If it&#39;s already correct in a textbook, then scientists did not &quot;recently think&quot; the opposite. TheCellularScalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18379669883853001278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-54584218889188781132013-09-27T17:49:34.043-07:002013-09-27T17:49:34.043-07:00Oops, I meant an UNUSUAL square shape for the brai...Oops, I meant an UNUSUAL square shape for the brain activations in the unpublished study...The Neurocritichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08010555869208208621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-18519163452225044312013-09-27T17:43:37.579-07:002013-09-27T17:43:37.579-07:00Thanks for stopping in again. I&#39;ll look forwar...Thanks for stopping in again. I&#39;ll look forward to reading the paper. <br /><br />I don&#39;t doubt that extremely excessive porn use can be problematic in some people (like many things in excess), and that there&#39;s some neural correlate involved (as there is for everything). To say &quot;&#39;Porn addicts&#39; show same brain activity as alcoholics and drug addicts&quot; (as did the Mail Online) seems misleading though. Are the so-called behavioral addictions actually &#39;addictions&#39; or are they more like compulsions and/or impulse control disorders? Will fMRI studies be able to shed light on the distinction? Why do different people get hooked on different drugs or activities, while other heavy users do not?<br /><br />Then there&#39;s the social implications, or rather the moralistic misuse of neuroscience data to further some agenda, like the incredibly hypocritical Mail Online. On the same page where they rail against obscenity, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2428861/Porn-addicts-brain-activity-alcoholics-drug-addicts.html" rel="nofollow">blathering</a>, &quot;The Daily Mail has vigorously campaigned for an automatic block on online adult videos and images, which would mean over-18s having to opt in to be able to see them.&quot; -- we learn that Adele Exarchopoulos has bared her soul in graphic nude sex scenes.<br /><br />Researchers who work in this area should be acutely aware of the use and misuse of their data, and how the research is covered in the media. Faulty interpretations seem like the rule, rather than the exception.The Neurocritichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08010555869208208621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-51756119003116740872013-09-27T16:35:18.748-07:002013-09-27T16:35:18.748-07:00It&#39;s me again.
Yeah I agree with you on the F...It&#39;s me again. <br />Yeah I agree with you on the Freudian part of the article. As far as the Cambridge study - it had 19 age/gender matched controls, and there was a significant difference between the two groups. The usual &quot;square shape&quot; doesn&#39;t cut it as a rebuttal. <br /><br />Neuroskeptic simply dislikes the idea of behavioral addictions. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-80299601448782241012013-09-27T14:49:49.493-07:002013-09-27T14:49:49.493-07:00Thomas Raab - Thanks very much for the additional ...Thomas Raab - Thanks very much for the additional 19th century quote.<br /><br />Anonymous - The major point of the post is to correct the record on neuroplasticity. Doidge continues to ignore the history of neuroscience. Yes, I know his book has been around for a while (since 2007), yet he repeats the same tired &quot;Until recently, scientists believed our brains were fixed...&quot; claim. I linked to two excellent Mind Hacks posts which discuss in depth these bizarre ahistorical statements about neuroplasticity (and also that pop notions about &quot;neuroplasticity&quot; are rather vague).<br /><br />The functional neuroanatomical bases for behavioral addictions, and whether overconsumption of porn can be considered an addiction (or a compulsion or an impulse control disorder), is beyond the scope of the post. The article&#39;s claim for a physical change in the brain&#39;s &quot;reward centre&quot; is based on an unpublished study. Images from this study appeared in <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2428861/Porn-addicts-brain-activity-alcoholics-drug-addicts.html" rel="nofollow">British tabloid</a>, but Neuroskeptic has pointed out that the activations in this study have an usual <a href="https://twitter.com/Neuro_Skeptic/status/382190032460607488" rel="nofollow">square shape</a>.<br /><br />Finally, I believe Doidge has opened himself up to rebuttal of his Freudian claims about porn. Comment is free, after all.The Neurocritichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08010555869208208621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-1302206204648008652013-09-27T13:42:08.298-07:002013-09-27T13:42:08.298-07:00What was the point of your post, anyhow? To take a...What was the point of your post, anyhow? To take a swipe at Doidge? His book has been around for a while, you know. Maybe ppset that the article was about porn, and that studies are being done that find porn addiction could indeed exist?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21605329.post-50597847055017580852013-09-27T02:22:23.326-07:002013-09-27T02:22:23.326-07:00Not to mention the &quot;Plastizitätslehre&quot; o...Not to mention the &quot;Plastizitätslehre&quot; of Albrecht Bethe (1872-1954): „Jede Erregung, welche dem Nervensystem zufließt, ist imstande eine geringe Veränderung auf dem ganzen Wege zu hinterlassen, ... kehrt derselbe Reiz ausgehend von demselben Objekt immer wieder, so hinterläßt er auf seinem Wege im Nervensystem eine merkliche Änderung derart, daß beim Wiederkehren desselben Reizes die Wahrnehmung sehr viel leichter anspricht als zuvor&quot;. (1898)Thomas Raabhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03278016549182732537noreply@blogger.com